Coins you bought that got lost in the mail/never arrived

[seth77]

Hi, I'm not going to post any pics, I have lost coins in the mail 2 deniers of Jerusalem for the "mauvais" module, a denier tournois of Mehun-sur-Yevre that I consider irreplaceable, etc. A simple advice for anyone buying from France, do not have your items posted by lettre suivie: it's only suivie in the territory operated by La Poste and once it goes abroad it's completely off-grid. And they get "lost" once outside the French system because (probably) low men in the post system know that once they left France they are not suivie anymore and if they were sent suivie in the first place there might be something of value there. Only go for lettre recommandee  or the simple par avion.

[AncientOne]

Sadly this one never arrived.

Pamphylia, Perga. Trajan Decius Ae24. Aremis Pergaia

Obv: AY K GA ME KY TRA DEKION EY S; Trajan Decius, radiate bust r.
Rev: PERGA IWN; Aremis Pergaia, radiate, standing r., holding bow in l., arrow in r.
6,23g, 24mm.

[rrdenarius]

I had an interesting package arrive last year. It looked like someone's dog got ahold of it. 

The bag should have contained two weights - one uncia & four uncia; two thimbles and a silver nugget.

the two pieces above did not make it. What arrived is below.

 

The best piece in the lot, by far, is my first 4 uncia weight. Note that beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

 

Edited June 3, 2022 by rrdenarius

[ValiantKnight]

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Edited June 3, 2022 by ValiantKnight

[akeady]

I thought this was lost to me - won from CNG in January, finally posted in March (it seems my bank transfer lost my message saying from where it was coming) to my company's office in San Diego as I was supposed to be there in mid-March.   Then my trip was delayed (I didn't go until mid-May and returned on Sunday); worse, the coin wasn't delivered and wandered around California until being "Forwarded" on 13th April.   Just when I'd given up hope, it reappeared on the USPS radar on 31st May in New Jersey and was delivered back to CNG this morning!

They're sending it to me in Ireland today - all's well that ends well - though I'm tempting fate by posting it again (I posted it on CT in late January or early February when I originally won it).

Assuming this arrives, I haven't had any coin go missing in the post 🙂

ATB,

Aidan.

Edited June 9, 2022 by akeady
Typo'

[KenDorney]

On 5/31/2022 at 9:26 AM, Ed Snible said:

@Mat, I have had several coins from eBay Lanz appear to get lost in customs according to USPS tracking.  However, in those cases the USPS sent the coins back to Lanz!  Lanz then sent them again.

No clue why this would be.  My guess is that someone fumbled the hand-written address and decided it was undeliverable, so after clearing customs it went back to Germany.

Here is a Lanz coin that disappeared completely

It's an extremely rare bronze of Iconium, gorgoneion/Nike.

At least Lanz puts their return address on the envelopes.  Some "dealers" and "auction houses" do not.  Here is a nice coin from an auction house that does not put any return address on their shipments:

 

This is a very scarce large (AE35) bronze of Tarsos.  It never arrived.  This dealer, who still sells via Biddr, stopped responding to my emails when I started asking him about next steps for this lost coin.

A coin from a different auction, same house, arrived in an envelope with no return address.

I no longer bid with him.  Not because I wasn't refunded for a coin whose tracking shows it vanished.  It happens.  I won't deal with anyone who doesn't put their return address on the envelopes.  It feels shady.

You should contact Biddr.  They will intervene for you.  I had a similar issue, the dealer refused to refund when their terms clearly stated they were insured.  They then offered $50 refund on the package (a few hundred value, I think).  I contacted Simon at Biddr and he took care of it.  I got the refund a few days later.

[robinjojo]

On 6/1/2022 at 5:30 PM, Valentinian said:

I bought two denarii from Silicua in Spain Feb. 12, 2022. I live in the US Northwest. Unfortunately, the address they wrote on the envelope omitted my city and ZIP code--it had only my street address and state. My street address has 5 digits so that was apparently treated as my postal code. Tracking never admitted it was anywhere. Anyway, after I had given up hope and corresponded with Silicua several times, the envelope showed up 4 days ago, May 27. The Post Office or someone wrote in marker my city and postal code. It took three months and 15 days. 

Here they are, VOTA types of Caracalla:

The first one has the sacrificial bull behind the altar.
The first one has VOTA SOLVT DEC COS III, so vows for ten years paid, in 208. Caracalla became Augustus in 198, 

The second one has VOT SVSC DEC PON TRP V COS, struck in 202
this time with vows for ten years taken, possibly at the occasion when Septimius Severus paid his vows for ten years. 

 

Kudos for the postal employee who corrected the address!

[Michael Stolt]

Around 5 months ago I sold this tetradrachm of Mark Antony to a fellow collector, but sadly as of February 6 a few days after arriving to the US, tracking ceased to be updated.

I have been in contact with the Swedish postal service as the coin was sent from Sweden, they conducted a missing mail search. Their response after about a month and a half of waiting was that the package was definitely lost.

It is also the current RPC online plate coin, which makes this suck even more 😞

Edited June 10, 2022 by Michael Stolt

[Qcumbor]

About 15 years ago I bought the following from a Vcoins dealer. I got something else instead, far less valuable, that I returned immediately. Probably the person who got "my" coin instead of theirs didn't do the same, as the dealer told me he could never recover it. Of course I got my refund + a 50$ bonus, but I've regreted it ever since

 

 

Q